Feds snare 16 hospice providers in $60M Medicare fraud scheme

Sixteen individuals were charged with offenses related to a health care fraud scheme in a federal court in Texas. The scheme alleges that from July 2012 to September 2016, Novus Health Services, owned and operated by the 16 individuals, billed Medicare and Medicaid more than $60 million for fraudulent hospice services, of which more than $35 million was paid to Novus. The individuals submitted false claims for hospice services and continuous care hospice services, recruited ineligible hospice beneficiaries via kickbacks to physicians and health care facilities, and falsified and destroyed documents to conceal these activities. The grand jury indictment was the result of an investigation into Novus by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, HHS Office of Inspector General (OIG), and the Texas Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit (MFCU).

Scheme

Novus and Optim Health Services, Inc. were operated and co-owned by one of the individuals, a certified public accountant without any medical licenses. Licensed physicians who were paid Novus medical directors provided little to no oversight of Novus’s hospice patients. Some of the indicted individuals were not physicians and they would determine whether a beneficiary would be certified for, recertified for, or discharged from hospice; whether they would be placed on continuous care; and how and to what extent they would be medicated with drugs. These decisions on medical care were often driven by financial interest rather than patient need.

The scheme also involved directing that beneficiaries be placed on continuous care, whether the beneficiaries needed the service or not, and often without any consultation with a physician. Continuous care physician’s orders were falsified and uploaded into Novus’s electronic medical records database. When a beneficiary was on continuous care, the Novus nurses would unnecessarily administer high doses of Schedule II controlled medications such as morphine or hydromorphone. The Schedule II medications were obtained with prescription forms unlawfully pre-signed by medical directors. The investigators found instances when these excessive dosages resulted in serious bodily injury or death to the beneficiaries.

If convicted, each count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud and substantive health care fraud count carries a maximum statutory penalty of 10 years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine.